You may not need to fix all broken links immediately.
While broken links can frustrate users, a custom 404 page that communicates that a page no longer exists and helps users navigate elsewhere may be fine for lower-priority pages.
Google’s Search Quality Guidelines state that pages with a custom 404 error message are generally considered “medium quality” if they communicate the problem and help users navigate elsewhere.
For example, this 404 page provides a helpful link back to the home page.
You should address broken links on telegram data your site. But we recommend focusing first on fixing those that affect crucial pages and overall user experience.
As?
Check Google Search Console to see if the error is relevant.
First, click on ” Pages ” in the “Indexing” dropdown on the left side. And click on ” Not Found (404) “:
Next, scroll down to the URLs listed under “Examples.”
Evaluate whether the pages in your Google Search Console 404 report are crucial to your site.
A 404 crawl error prevents Google from properly crawling and indexing a page that you want to be discoverable in search results. Checking this report can help you prioritize which links are most relevant to fix.
Update URLs
If the page still exists with a new URL, you can update the internal links with a new URL.
Here are a few options:
- Use a search and replace tool to bulk how can you create a logical and effective content hierarchy? update all instances of the old URL to the new URL. Many content management systems (CMS) like WordPress have built-in search and replace features.
- Manually edit the old link text or image on each page to point to the new URL. Check again for more occurrences on that page.
- When linking to pages in your navigation menus, update the destination URL in your menu builder/editor if the page URL has changed
Remove dead links
Remove internal links that point to a page that no longer exists.
The “ Issues ” tab of Semrush’s Site Audit tool will tell you exactly what broken links each page has.
So you would go to each page and manually remove each broken link.
Redirect broken pages
Use 301 redirects to redirect visitors from broken pages to new, relevant pages. 301s tell search engines that the content has moved permanently and pass link authority to the new URL.
Redirecting users to a new, relevant page with a 301 improves user experience compared to allowing users to land on 404 error pages by clicking on broken links.
To create 301 redirects:
- Use server rewrite rules if you have access to the hosting
- Install a redirect plugin for CMS like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal
- Use the built-in redirect manager for sites on Squarespace, Wix, etc.
Read more: 301 Redirect: What It Is & How It Affects SEO
Finding broken links on autopilot
Manually checking for broken links can be tedious. And easy to forget.
For ongoing maintenance, automate broken link scans using Semrush’s Site Audit tool .
As?
When you start a Site Audit scan, simply click ” Schedule ” in the settings.
Next, select how often you want your site to be crawled for new issues, such as broken links.
Regular website audits detect broken links early, before they negatively impact users and SEO.
Automating this process saves time on australia database directory manual checks and ensures a seamless experience for your visitors.